shueman
Libra
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Born To Drive...
   
Alta Loma CA
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Posted: Feb. 26 2005,10:50 pm |
Post # 2 |
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Thanks for bringing this over Sleek. Â I had seen the HB threads, but did not take the time to follow the drama (as usual).
Sounds like things are being done....it's all about PPM at this point... 
San Bernardino Sun Times - 2/24/05:
Toxic plume spurs action
PGE told to boost cleanup near river
By George Watson, Staff Writer
The state is requiring Pacific Gas Electric Co. to take new steps toward cleaning up a toxic plume in the Mojave Desert before a known pollutant seeps into the Colorado River.
The utility company's Topock natural gas compressor station is the source of the chromium-based chemical. The cleanup site, near the remote desert community of Needles, is about 60 feet from the river that provides drinking water to millions of Southern Californians.
A new well produced a sample indicating a high level of hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, the carcinogenic chemical that gained notoriety in the film "Erin Brockovich." But state officials said the chemical-laced groundwater has not leaked into the river.
"I need to caution people, we are taking all of these actions based on one sample," said Ron Baker, a spokesman with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. "Certainly, the conditions could change. The hydrology is very complex."
PGE provides gas and electric service to about 14 million people in Northern and Central California.
As part of the state-required contingency plan, PGE must increase pumping of one well, install a new monitoring well, conduct more frequent well sampling and determine whether groundwater flow is still heading away from the river.
The new 70-foot-deep well was part of the agency's continuing investigation into the facility near Interstate 40 and the Nevada border. The state ordered PGE to begin cleaning up the site on March 8, 2004.
The sample detected hexavalent chromium at 354 parts per billion, which would be comparable to 354 drops of the contaminant in an Olympic-sized pool . The finding exceeded the state's standards of 50 parts per billion for drinking water.
A mobile home park is relatively near the cleanup site, but is at a higher elevation and not believed to be in danger.
The groundwater there has always been ill-suited for drinking, a fact that continues today, said Jon Tremayne, a spokesman with the utility.
"If there's a silver lining, I guess, it's the water that is there is not being used by any domestic uses," Tremayne said.
The utility plans to install a higher-powered system early this summer to extract greater quantities of the groundwater, he said. Tremayne likened it to going from a single straw in a soda can to having several straws in the same can.
But Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction, an environmental group, said he remains concerned about the time it has taken to get the plume under control.
"That site really needs to be cleaned up timely and thoroughly," Angel said.
PGE bought the Topock facility in 1951 and used the chemical as a corrosive inhibitor in cooling towers at its compressor stations that delivered natural gas to Central and Northern California. It was used for more than a decade.
The state toxic substance control agency has said that over 17 years, PGE dumped 6 million to 10 million gallons of the chromium groundwater in percolation beds near Topock.
Edited by shueman on Feb. 27 2005,7:47 am
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11-29-2024 Three Word Post.....The Next Generation.... (Rep.#19,441) from: BigDog
HDF hkunz! 
